Dutch Springs Incident

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redstrom

Contributor
Messages
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Location
Center City, Philadelphia
# of dives
I just don't log dives
I was up diving Dutch this morning when the police and EMT showed up. From what I was told they pulled a young women from the Pump House corner of the quarry. There were conflicting accounts whether she was alive or not.

Does anyone know if she is alright?
 
I heard she popped to the surface, did not drop her weights, and sank back down. I don't know what the original source of the problem was.

When she was finally brought up by other divers she didn't have a pulse, so chest compressions were started. Last I heard the medic & EMTs got a pulse and she was taken by ambulance.
 
I had been told by one of the Dutch Springs staff that it was a "drowning" but he was on the Penninsula side, like me (i saw the lights of the emergency vehicles/police cars from the other side). So I don't know if he had accurate information or not. I came on this morning to see if others had heard, as there is nothing in the newspapers yet. I was told it was a 35yr old female that drown but nothing about what happened.
 
I spoke to a Dutch Springs staff member who said the woman had completed her dive, came to the surface and couldn't get her BC to hold air. Reportedly, she didn't drop her weights and sank. Her dive buddy, who was low on air, called for help. The staffer told us she drowned.
 
That's sad. I wonder if she ran out of air so she couldn't inflate her bc and subsequently breath under water when she sank back. Dutch typically has a staffer back in that cove. Hard to believe no one could get to her.

We dove the Pumphouse literally minutes after the EMT cleared out and the area was very silted up to the point where I could barely see my buddy who was 4 feet ahead of me.
 
I do not have first hand knowledge of what happened, but I spoke with a member of our group who was diving near the pump house during/after the incident and happened across the woman's gear on the bottom. He checked the gauges and said the tank had plenty of air remaining. He and his buddy then surfaced to find the diver being attended to by rescuers. They went back down to grab the gear, but someone else was already bringing it up.

With luck we'll be able to get more information on her condition and details of the incident. Hoping for the best at this point...
 
Dont know if the people who helped her and her boyfriend will see this but i would like to thank them for helping.

I was wondering how she was. last i heard was that at the hospital they did get a pulse.
 
My Club was camping there all weekend and several people saw the incident, which was closer to the student side. We were on the Pennisula.

Divers were the first to respond, although there was a delay because the first group the husband approached did not speak English and didn't understand enough to respond. A different group of divers followed up and then the DS crew in the boat.

On Sunday, we were told she had a pulse and is currently in the hospital in a coma. We were told the accident was due to "training error" probably because she didn't ditch her weights after being asked several times by the hubby.

Sad, I hope she pulls through, though I'm sure there will be residual damage.

I've been diving here for 10 years and it seems like the "incidents" are increasing simply because there is a TON of more people there now. The Park has become very popular and draws people from NY, NJ, PA, MD, DE, and more! Obviously, at a quarry, there is a LOT of training going on and many folks practicing their skills.
 
I do not have first hand knowledge of what happened, but I spoke with a member of our group who was diving near the pump house during/after the incident and happened across the woman's gear on the bottom. He checked the gauges and said the tank had plenty of air remaining. He and his buddy then surfaced to find the diver being attended to by rescuers. They went back down to grab the gear, but someone else was already bringing it up.

Please ask the diver who spotted the gear to fill-out an Incident Report soon. This should be done soon, as memory will become more fallible as time elapses.

Also, based on what you wrote I would respectfully suggest that you make your report available to Dutch Springs staff, Police, and family of the injured diver. If you only submit the report to the agency, such as PADI, the agency might have a tendency to sit on the reports and to not share them with any other entity.
 
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